How do floodplain areas along the Danube contribute to improving water quality, and how can diverse interests be taken
into account in their transboundary management? These questions are being addressed by a consortium funded by the
European Union in the IDES - Improving water quality in the Danube River and its Tributaries by Integrative Floodplain Management Based on
Ecosystem Services Project under the leadership of Catholic University (Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Germany).
Ecosystem services are the many and varied benefits to humans gifted by the natural environment and from healthy ecosystems. These
ecosystems, functioning in healthy relationship, offer such things like natural pollination of crops, clean air, extreme
weather mitigation such as drought and floods, human mental and physical well-being.
IDES aims to develop and implement a transnational integrative ecosystem service approach to improve water quality
management and thus, generating win-win-situations for multifunctional floodplains instead of trade-offs. The IDES tool
should enable the national key actors in water quality management to identify the most sustainable measures without
neglecting the needs of other sectors. The innovative IDES tool will provide an ecosystem service assessment for
floodplains that supports sustainable decision-making in floodplain management both in pilot areas and at the
transnational level.
From its source to its mouth in the Black Sea, the Danube covers a distance of more than 2,800 kilometres, flows through
ten countries, and gets its water from 20 different countries along the way. More than 80 million people live in the
catchment area of the river, and - just like flora and fauna - are dependent on good water quality.
"The flow of nutrients in water does not stop at national borders. That is why it is our concern to jointly establish
strategies for comprehensive water quality management with this international project. The floodplains along the Danube
play a key role in this, as they are able to retain nutrients," explains Prof. Dr. Bernd Cyffka, head of the Floodplain
Institute at Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt.Floodplains have many roles and tasks
Rivers and their floodplains have many roles and tasks: they serve as shipping routes and recreational areas, protection
against floods, drinking water reservoirs, and as habitats for plants and animals.
"The aim of the IDES is to adopt a comprehensive perspective that takes this important aspect into consideration for the
first time. The participating researchers are focusing on five pilot regions in Austria (Danube River), Romania (Braila
Island), Serbia (Danube River), Slovenia (Mura River) and Hungary (Tisza River). We seek to develop an integrated
concept for the management of floodplains in these regions in close collaboration with decision-makers. Diverse and
mutual ecosystem services of floodplains will become more transparent and become the basis for future handling of such
areas." – says the research assistant, Dr. Barbara Stammel.
During the two-and-a-half-year implementation period, the innovative actions will focus on the following:Analysis of the actual water quality situation of and its pressures on ecosystem services in the whole Danube Region by
explicit geographical models, GIS analysis and literature review. Harmonisation of different approaches and joint
development of the framework of an ecosystem service evaluation tool (IDES tool) on the basis of these enquiries.Stakeholder workshops in five pilot areas in Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia and Romania where innovative water
quality management concepts will be elaborated and assessed by the newly developed IDES tool. The results and the
experience on the implementation of the IDES tool will be summarised in the IDES Manual and transferred to key actors in
the participating countries during national training courses.Joint development of a transnational strategy providing the operational pathway to integrate the ecosystem service
approach in future water quality planning processes. Feedback from a transnational stakeholder workshop will help to
fine-tune the IDES tool and strategy in the final phase and to foster its implementation.
Background:
IDES (Improving water quality in the Danube River and its Tributaries by Integrative Floodplain Management Based on Ecosystem
Services) is co-funded by the European Union (ERDF, IPA). For more information about it, visit the project website: www.interreg-danube.eu/ides.